Lessons for the youth development community

1. Use youth organizing strategies to engage young people as leaders in their communities.
   Many youth gravitate toward activism because they have opportunities to apply themselves, develop new skills, and exercise their voice. Adopting a social justice orientation can help youth channel their emotion and energy into productive action that benefits the community. Organizations can provide young people with a structure and framework for identifying community needs, developing a change agenda, and taking action. Young people will respond by taking on leadership roles to improve their communities.
2. Create well-defined decision-making roles for youth.
   Often adults underestimate youth’s capacity to make well-informed and strategic decisions. But, as young people mature, they need ample opportunities to try on the adult roles. Organizations can offer opportunities for young people to be decision-makers by creating formal and independent structures for youth leadership, such as independent youth councils.
3. Make time for youth decision-making and input.
   Involving youth in decision-making takes time. Youth-led organizational processes tend to occur more slowly in order to accommodate young people’s learning curve. Organizations that want increased youth involvement in decision-making must be willing and able to slow down their processes so that youth can play an authentic role.
4. Teach adults to step back without tuning out.
   For youth decision-making to work, adults need to step back and have faith that, if given the responsibility, young people will make sound decisions. At the same time, adults must avoid tuning out. They play important support and advisory roles and must learn to provide a high level of support to youth decision-makers without taking over and usurping their authority.
5. Build young people’s understanding and appreciation of their own identities.
   Providing young people access to information on their histories and backgrounds and a space where they can explore their identities safe from the threat of stereotyping, harassment, or rejection allows young people to build an autonomous yet socially integrated sense of self. Navigating racial divisions can be difficult and painful for youth who have lived with racism and negative stereotypes. Organizations can offer workshops that give youth a chance to explore their own cultures.